Bell’s customers left wanting for information

It's hard to know what's going on at BCE these days. The recent sale of Bell Business Solutions to GFI Conseils provides a glimpse into the direction the giant telco might be taking, but the complete lack of strategic transparency has left Bell's customers in the dark, according to analysts."I couldn't tell you what the Bell strategy and product portfolio for '09 is," says Roberta Fox, senior partner of Fox Group Telecom Consulting.The combination of GFI Conseils, a subsidiary of Québec-based IT services company GFI Solutions Group, with Bell Business Solutions, a provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), does make sense.Gilles Létourneau, president and CEO of GFI Solutions Group, says that the discussions with Bell started last November. It's a big fish to swallow - GFI picks up 350 Bell employees, bringing total headcount to 758 - but Létourneau feels the Bell people may be happier at GFI."At GFI they are in an organization that is closer to what they are used to," says Létourneau. "We are an IT company that builds business solutions."The deal doubles GFI's revenue from $40 million to $80 million, and Létourneau indicated to Network Letter that more acquisitions are likely to follow. Currently GFI offers payment services to 76 of 86 municipalities in Quebec, and Ontario is an appealing market."A lot of SMBs don't necessarily run enterprise resource planning systems, but municipalities do. GFI can take that experience and expand it in Ontario," says Fox.Deal a clue to Bell's direction"The acquisition doesn't surprise me," says independent telecommunications analyst Jon Arnold. "It seems to fit into the bigger picture of where Bell is going and what business they are focusing on. They may be trying to rationalize their business lines away from the SMB space. They can see that more and more of that market is going to hosted services, so there is less need for consulting."Arnold also argues this is an indication Bell can't spend freely to stay ahead of the market, and has to consolidate on what they do well."They're playing safe with what they have to work with," says Arnold. "It's consistent with Bell's plans for fibre and DSL - they won't spend money on fibre to the home, the market demand isn't there for the extra speed you get."If so, they might want to tell their customers directly."We have enterprise and SMB customer asking us -What's the Bell story?" says Fox. "The customers want to know what Bell's plans are for the future. The truth is, Bell is the only major last-mile player in much of Ontario, and it's important for customers to know what their plans are. Will they continue to offer enhanced services, web hosting, hosted Exchange, where are they with next generation ICT?"However, Fox and Arnold are also sympathetic to the internal organizational demands that are put on a company the size of BCE when it goes private."They have to look at every line of business,'" says Arnold. "Bell is squeezed in all directions - it's taken on a lot of debt and hasn't performed as well as its assets would suggest.""The change is massive," says Fox. "And what gets kicked aside are the planning and restructuring of products and portfolios. From a strategic perspective, it can be very distracting. George Cope can do logos and media campaigns - he proved that with Clearnet and Telus. But carving off pieces without analyst or consulting events is unfortunate, because it means Bell's customer don't know what the story is."

Bell’s customers left wanting for information

News | September 2, 2008

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